Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart (Ps. 24:3–4).

“New Temples,” Friend, Jan 2002, 40

Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart (Ps. 24:3–4).

President Hinckley wants all worthy Church members to have temple blessings. He feels bad that members who live far away cannot go to the temple often. He said that these people “make tremendous sacrifices to visit the temples. They travel for days … in cheap buses and on old boats. They save their money and do without to make it all possible.”*

He and his counselors and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles prayed to know how they could help more people participate in temple work. The prophet said that “the answer … came bright and clear.”† Heavenly Father told them to build many small temples all over the world instead of only a few large ones. President Hinckley has dedicated close to seventy temples.

Seeing new temples built makes President Hinckley happy because temples bring blessings. In 1985, he traveled to Mexico City for the temple dedication there. He had visited Mexico before, and he remembered how poor some of the people were. This didn’t stop them from coming to the temple dedication, smiling brightly and dressed in their best clothing. They knew that they would be blessed because a temple had been built in their country. President Hinckley was impressed by their joy. He said, “What a wonderfully uplifting experience it was to be with them and to witness the miraculous power of God in their lives.”‡

Temples bring blessings because there we are taught more about Heavenly Father’s plan. We participate in ordinances and make covenants; the Holy Ghost strengthens us as we obey. We can help in the building of more temples by paying a full tithing and by living the gospel.

Judy Edwards, “Sharing Time: A Temple Is the House of the Lord,” Friend, Jan 1993, 14

It is thy house, a place of thy holiness (D&C 109:13).

Have you ever wondered what Heavenly Father’s house in heaven looks like? We can only imagine how wonderful it is. As we try to imagine it, we can think about our own houses here on earth. Homes are different for different people. Some children live in houses made of brick, others in houses made of wood. Homes can be apartments, simple huts, even boats.

Whatever your home looks like, the most important thing about it is what is found inside. If a house if filled with love and kindness, it is a beautiful place.

Heavenly Father also wants to have a beautiful house here upon the earth where we can visit and feel His love. He has commanded us to build houses for Him where we can hear His messages and receive important blessings. These houses are called temples. It is in God’s temple that we may best worship and make important covenants, or promises, with Him.

Because each temple is a holy place, those who enter the temple must be worthy. They must keep Heavenly Father’s commandments. In this way love, beauty, and holiness will continue to be found there.

Instructions

1. Remove page 15 from the magazine. Mount it on heavy paper or lightweight cardboard, then cut along the broken lines.

2. On page 3, draw a picture of the temple nearest your home. Color all the pictures.

3. Punch holes where indicated, and make a booklet by threading the pages together in order with yarn or heavy string. Tie the yarn in a bow on the front of the booklet. Turn the pages one by one as you sing “I Love to See the Temple” (Children’s Songbook, page 95).

I Love to See the Temple

By Janice Kapp Perry

1. I love to see the temple.
I’m going there someday

2. To feel the Holy Spirit,
To listen and to pray.

3. For the temple is a house of God,
A place of love and beauty.

4. I’ll prepare myself while I am young;
This is my sacred duty.

5. I love to see the temple.
I’ll go inside someday.

6. I’ll covenant with my Father;
I’ll promise to obey.

7. For the temple is a holy place
Where we are sealed together.

8. As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth:
A family is forever.

Sharing Time Ideas

1. Using “I Love to See the Temple” (Children’s Songbook, page 95) as a guide, list and discuss some of the things that a person does in the temple: feel the Holy Spirit, listen, pray, covenant with Heavenly Father, be sealed together as families.

2. Explain that in the temple, people wear special white clothing that represents purity, cleanliness, holiness, and righteousness. In your discussion, use “They shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment.” (Rev. 3:4–5.) Talk about other times in our lives when we wear white (baptism, marriage, and burial).

3. Show a picture of the temple nearest you. Have younger children draw a picture of themselves standing outside the temple. Discuss with older children the history of their temple. Encourage them to write their feelings about it in their own journals.

4. Invite a Primary child who has been to the temple for a dedication or sealing to share his feelings about the experience, or invite an adult to briefly tell the Primary children of blessings he has received from going to the temple.

5. Invite the bishop or branch president to discuss temple worthiness and temple recommends with the children.

Let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people (D&C 124:40).

What is an ordinance? The word has special meaning when we use it in the Church. An ordinance is a sacred ceremony that has a spiritual meaning. When we participate in an ordinance, we often make covenants or promises to obey Heavenly Father’s commandments.

Instructions

Look at the pictures illustrated and see if you can identify the ordinances. Write the name of each ordinance beneath its picture, using the list below. Then read the descriptions of some of the types of ordinances we have in the Church and color the frames of the pictures as indicated. Some frames may be more than one color.

Illustrated by Julie F. Young

Sacrament
Baptism
Blessing a baby
Celestial Marriage
Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost
Baptism for the dead
Sealing

1. Some ordinances are called saving ordinances. These ordinances are necessary for salvation. Jesus described two saving ordinances when He said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Being born of water means being baptized, and being born of the Spirit means receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Other ordinances of salvation and exaltation are sealings and celestial marriage. (See D&C 131:1–2.)

Color the frames around the saving ordinances red.

2. Some ordinances are performed only in holy temples. Some of these ordinances include baptism for the dead, celestial marriage, and sealings.

Color the frames around the temple ordinances blue.

3. There are many other ordinances performed in the Church, such as partaking of the sacrament and the blessing of babies.

Color remaining frames yellow.

How grateful we should be for all the ordinances we have. We are particularly blessed to live in a time when we have holy temples upon the face of the earth and are able to receive the blessings of temples ordinances. Without temples those ordinances would not be available for us or for our loved ones who have died. Because of temples, all people who have lived upon this earth can have ordinances of salvation and exaltation performed in their behalf.

Sharing Time Ideas

1. Explain that when an ordinance is performed, we make a covenant, or promise, with Heavenly Father. (See “Covenant” in the 1993 Children’s Sacrament Meeting Presentation Glossary and in the Bible Dictionary.) Generally discuss some of the covenants that the children may one day be blessed to make in the temple: morality, obeying the commandments, sharing with others, sacrificing, and being like Jesus.

2. Ordinances always include covenants. Have children pair each ordinance with covenants that are made when the ordinance is performed.

Serve the Lord
Keep His commandments
Take His name upon you
Bear one another’s burdens
Mourn with those who mourn
Comfort those in need
Stand as a witness of God

3. Invite children to tell where they were baptized. Indicate that children living in different areas of the world may be baptized in a variety of settings: baptismal fonts, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc. (See “Our Prophets’ Outdoor Baptisms,” Friend, March 1988, pages 30–31.) Explain that when we perform baptisms for the dead, it is done only in temples. (See D&C 124:29–39.) Show a picture of a temple baptismal font and explain that the design came from the Temple of Solomon and that the twelve oxen represent the twelve tribes of Israel. (See 1 Kgs. 7:23–26.)

4. Invite an older child who has performed baptisms for the dead to speak to the Primary children about his or her experience.

5. Sing “Truth from Elijah” (Children’s Songbook, page 90) and discuss family history research and how names are submitted to the temples for sealings and other temple ordinance work.

6. Invite a faithful married couple to express their feelings to the children concerning temple ordinances.

Instructions

To make a mobile to remind you of happy things that happen in the temple, print and mount it on lightweight cardboard.

Illustrated by Crystal Dutson

Your Own Temple

Temple Marriage

Temple Sealings

Learning about Jesus

Baptisms for the Dead

God’s House

Next, in the space provided, draw a picture of the temple nearest your home, then color and cut out each picture, and punch holes where indicated. On the back of each picture, write about how that temple blessing makes you happy. Use string or heavy thread to tie the smaller pictures beneath the picture of your own temple and hang the mobile.

Let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have … built this house to my name (D&C 110:6).

What makes you happiest? If you choOse between something that would last for just a little while and something that would last forever, which would it be—an ice-cream cone, or a friend? a paper plane or doll, or a Book of Mormon? a baseball game, or a trip with your family?

Ice-cream cones and comic books and baseball games are all fun, but they don’t give the lasting happiness that friends, scriptures, and family do.

The temple shows us how to choose the happiest things in life—long-lasting things like love and goodness and kindness. The temple helps us learn more about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and why we are here on earth. And temple ordinances make it possible for the best things in life to last forever.

Five Primary children said this about the temple:

“A temple is a happy place because we learn about Jesus there.” (Nicole, age 6)

“People go there to do baptisms for the dead. You have to be twelve years old, you have to go to church, and you have to live the commandments. I want to go to the temple someday.” (Melissa, age 11)

“It’s happy in the temple because you get married there. I’m going to, because that means you’ll always be sealed to your true husband.” (Amanda, age 9)

“A temple is a place where you can get a baby sealed to your family. It was pretty inside. It was quiet. I felt happy. Sometimes you have happy tears because you’re getting a baby sealed to you that you love very much.” (Corbyn, age 8)

“The temple is a place where it is always reverent. It’s a sacred place, not like any other place. It is Heavenly Father’s house.” (Joseph, age 11)

Heavenly Father has given us many temple blessings for which we should be grateful. Several primary children have made comments about the temple blessings that they feel especially thankful for:

“I am thankful for the temple because when a mommy and daddy get married in the temple, they’re still married after they die.” (Stephanie, age 6)

“I’m thankful we can go to the temple and learn more about Heavenly Father, like how we came to earth and got our bodies and how the earth became the earth. We can learn what is right and how to obey Heavenly Father better.” (Anson, age 11)

“You go to the temple to get power to do things that are right.” (Jean, age 9)

“I think it’s a blessing to go to a holy place. You are happy when you are in the temple.” (David, age 9)

Illustrated by Julie F. Young

“We go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. I am thankful for that because if some of our ancestors are not members of the Church, we can baptize them so that they can become members if they want to.” (Martha, age 11)

“I am thankful we can go to the temple and bless the people who died.” (Glendon, age 9)

“I’m thankful families can all be together—like grandmas and grandpas, moms and dads, and us.” (Susan, age 6)

What blessings of the temple are you especially thankful for?

Instructions: In each temple block, write or draw a picture about a temple blessing that is important to you.